Month: March 2016

April 1, 1988 ~ 8 Year old April Tinsely was abducted while walking home from a friends home in Fort Wayne Indiana, her body was found three days later. She had been sexually assaulted by an unknown perpetrator.

It was good Friday back in 88 on the day that April vanished, it was also April Fools Day. Her body was found on the side of the road some 20 odd miles away from her home. She was found in a rural area which as the FBI put it was “dotted by Amish farms.”

Initially tips poured in, not one led to a suspect, in fact law enforcement had little to nothing to go on as far as a suspect went. The case left many feeling at a loss with no solid leads, no description of a suspect and no witness to speak of.

America’s Most Wanted featured April’s story twice and still nothing new came in. Initially police said the murderer was either white or Hispanic and eventually came up with a sketch of what they thought resembled the suspect.

Two years after April’s abduction and murder a message with regards to her murder appeared on a barn door near where her body was found.

In 2004 the case took an even more unusual turn when 4 notes turned up at various homes. The notes are believed to have come from April’s killer. Several had been placed on bicycles that belonged to young girls, each was written on lined yellow paper and placed in baggies, along with used condoms and Polaroid pictures of the killers body, several of the notes referred to April.

The killer hasn’t been heard from since 2004. Investigators did release a picture of a distinct bedspread that appeared in one of the Polaroid pictures in 04.

Investigators do believe the case is solvable and I believe them to be correct. In fact, the killer may have been right under the noses of investigators the entire time because it is someone who is familiar with Fort Wayne and the surrounding areas. These are area’s that the killer is comfortable moving around in, being seen in. In a clever way the killer told us more about who he is or was by leaving the notes.

It has been rumored that writing experts believe the killer to have a writing disorder called dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is best described as the inability to write legibly and is a symptom of brain damage or disease.

A really good place to look is within closed communities, if one were to believe that the author of the notes is suffering from some sort of brain dysfunction. Those that live in isolated groups sometimes suffer from genetic disorders or have been known to show signs of other brain disorders.

This killer was someone who lived in such a way that he could mask his disorder, most likely with the help of others or it simply wouldn’t have been noticed because of the way he lived or lives. This would afford him the opportunity to be both seen and unseen, meaning if you met him as a person you wouldn’t pick up on any type of brain dysfunction, you basically would never know.

As disturbing as the notes that were left were, they still hold the best insight into who this killer was at that time. While they show clear signs of someone who is deranged they also show some key information:

They are adolescent in nature, the condoms contained the killers DNA, which was a match to DNA found with April and they prove one of two things to us.

The killer was not worried about his DNA because he was so far diminished in some way mentally that he knew he would face absolutely no punishment for his crime because he would die before a match could be made, or be mentally incapacitated in some way, leaving it impossible to charge and convict him of the crime.

The killer had no understanding what-so-ever of what DNA is or how it could potentially tie him to the crime.

The FBI back in 09 released a profile of the killer, I believe the profile that was released is your A-Typical fit into a box type of profile.

Killers don’t often fit into any box I find, this one is particularly unique and that is precisely why the FBI’s profile to date has not been very fruitful. Think about it, what killer sends his DNA to potential victims? They simply were never potential victims and this guy didn’t fear the notion of getting caught for very obvious reasons.

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When police responded that cold November night in 2000, her 9 month old daughter was found unharmed in her crib.

Nancy Probst on the other hand, had been found beaten and shot in the back of the head. Nancy was only 32 at the time of her brutal murder.

Police and investigators always liked her husband for the murder in fact, on the night of the murder like any loving husband would, Matt Probst upon arriving home spotted his dead wife through a window and without venturing into the home turned around, got into his car which he had parked down the street from his home and waited for police to arrive. He parked 6 houses away from his home that night.

Matt was in fact charged with the murder of his wife, he even spent a year in jail awaiting trial for it, but alas the night prior to his preliminary hearing, the DA decided to drop the charges, the case and let the guy go.

No one else has ever been arrested for the murder.

Nancy’s brother Byron adopted his niece and she has had no contact with her biological father. Nancy’s daughter grew up without her mother, knowing that her mother was so brutally murdered, this young woman naturally has questions and deserves closure.

A brief History:

According to court documents, Matt told detective Jerry Kennedy that he called 911 at around 6:17 p.m. to report that “something was wrong” with his wife because he saw her face down through the bedroom window and he could hear his baby crying.

The document also goes on to say that investigators believed that the crime scene had been staged. “The VCR had been placed on the floor,” not dropped, and there was a “black coax cable draped across the victim.” Although Nancy was nude except for wearing a bra, she had not been sexually assaulted. Nothing of value was taken from the home, and the baby was not harmed. A cologne bottle, used in the assault, lay outside the open garage door.

A medical examiner’s report included in the document states that Nancy had been beaten before shot.

“The injuries included a bruised left eye, lip, and bruised lower abdomen. The impression left on the victim’s abdomen was caused by an assault where a ‘Black Suede’ cologne bottle was used as the weapon.”

Matt said he began calling his wife at 3pm and called several times the last one was placed 9 minutes before the call to 911.

In the document, detectives relate that Matt had many worries while driving home after work.

“I thought my wife was dead, that she had been killed.” Matt explains that he parked some distance from home because he had learned this from his highway patrolman father who had once told him not to park in front of the house if something is wrong. Matt also stated that he was fearful the assailant was still in his home.

A neighbor commented that when looking at Nancy’s house the blinds and door were closed throughout the that day and that Nancy liked to let the light in. No one was seen entering or exiting the home that day.

To add fuel to the fire it was widely reported that Matt had several affairs with women, one of the women told police that she and Matt had sex in a customers van. Matt was a mechanic. She went on to state they had sex the day his wife had been murdered.

At the time Matt’s attorney felt that too much attention had been unfairly placed upon Matt. He stated that other things were going on in the neighborhood such as burglaries and Calvin Mosley had sexually assaulted women in the area and was convicted of the crimes after Nancy’s death. Police determined that Mosley’s modus operandi was not a match for Nancy’s murder.

While everything seems to point to Matt as Nancy’s killer and trust me that is an excellent working theory, I do not believe he actually pulled the trigger. He is more complacent than he is guilty of actually pulling the trigger. That does not mean that he had no prior knowledge.

Everything from his odd behavior to his lack of even caring for his own child leaves many to believe that he is guilty. Still a few things do not add up. If he wanted his wife gone because he wanted out and let’s just roll the dice here and say he didn’t want his daughter either, why then would he only murder his wife? I get the staged crime scene, but leaving the child alive makes no sense considering the fact that he clearly showed that he didn’t care for her from the very moment he refused to enter his own home at the sight of his wife lying face down on the bedroom floor.

If Matt like most murderous husbands or ex husbands do, actually had the sense or wherewith all to plan a murder, he would have been a lot cleaner than this one turned out. Most men who kill a wife do it because they don’t want to have to pay alimony, child support or, they don’t want the wife to have custody of any children the couple share. It’s an ownership thing, a carrot they dangle over the woman’s head.

Let’s face it, he really is not bright enough to have planned it out through the end. He would have made a lot more mistakes. He didn’t seem concerned at all with the money aspect and while some might argue that is because he was going to murder his wife, it doesn’t answer the question of if that was the plan, what of the child. Matt is not smart enough to have guessed his brother in law would take the child in and raise her.

The neighbor noticing that the doors and blinds were closed all day that day is also disturbing. That means that either Matt let whomever did kill his wife into the home, go to work, have sex while at work and go back home knowing his wife had met her fatal end or…the woman who said she had sex with Matt that day was lying and knows more about the crime than she initially told police. She knows a lot more than she ever led on.

All of that said, in Matt’s eyes quite simply put, this all came out to be too good to be true. His ability to tell simple lies rather than elaborate ones says a lot.

The ability to apply the right amount of pressure to Matt and/or the woman who claims they had sex that day may just prove more fruitful than waiting around for something to fall from thin air that points indisputably to the killer of Nancy Probst.

This is a case where re-examining the crime scene, the evidence, the statements and perhaps conducting some follow up interviews may prove to shed more light than darkness and lead to an arrest finally.

Nancy Probst has a daughter who has grown up without her mother, she grew up not knowing her mother, rather she grew up in the shadow of her mothers unsolved murder. She deserves to have some closure, she deserves to know who murdered her mother. The why is never more important because it is always just an excuse for having done something one should not.

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Her disappearance triggered a massive search and media effort, which lasted for 3 years.

Jill K. Behrman, a 19 year old Bloomington resident and Indiana University student disappeared on the morning of May 31, 2000 while riding her bike. Jill’s partial remains were found March 9, 2003 in a wooded area near Warthen Road in Morgan County. She died due to a shotgun wound to the head.

A confession was obtained in the case in 2002 from Ellettsville resident Wendy Owings, it was later recanted, which then lead to the controversial arrest and conviction of Ellettsville man John R. Myers II.

The morning Jill disappeared, She left her parents Hyde Park home for a short bike ride before work. She was expected to meet her father and grandfather for a late lunch that afternoon but she never made it to the lunch. Jill was reported as missing by her parents the following day.

It would be October 2006 before a conviction was obtained against John Myers.

The Confession:

On March 22, 2002 Wendy K. Owings confessed to FBI Agent Gary Dunn, not only implicating herself but two others as well. Uriah J. Clouse and Alisha T. Evans (Sowders). The three had been named as suspects as early as June 2000, less than a month after the disappearance, based on comments they had each separately made to others regarding Jill.

The day following the confession, investigators began a search of Salt Creek, the location Wendy said Behrman’s body was placed. At that point, Agent Dunn compiled a Probable Cause Affidavit detailing the confession, the search, and the results of the the search and presented it to prosecutors, but charges were not filed.

The trio were administered polygraph examinations, and when asked if they had knowledge of Jill’s disappearance, the exam indicated that Wendy was not showing deception when she stated that she did. Yet both Uriah and Alisha were found to be showing deception when they answered the same questions with negative answers.

Wendy later recanted her confession, and Carl Salzmann, then Monroe County Prosecutor, declined to pursue charges against the three.

April 9, 2006:

With the discovery of Jill’s remains, attention shifted away from Wendy, Uriah and Alisha, and onto Ellettsville resident John Myers. Myers was arrested April 9, 2006 and charged with the murder of Jill Behrman. The prosecution presented a case that was, admittedly, circumstantial.

Jill’s bike was discovered within a mile of Myers’ residence in a hayfield owned by local farmer Joe Peden. investigators believed that she had ridden her bike north of town, Myers spotted her from the interior of his home, and in a fit of rage over the breakup of his relationship with another woman he left his home, abducted Behrman and subsequently murdered her. Although dogs were used to aid in the search for Behrman at the time of her disappearance, no scent of Behrman was detected north of the bike dump site across from Peden’s hayfield gate on N. Maple Grove Road.

Was the right individual convicted in Jill’s murder?

It has been suggested that John Myers may be innocent due to a rush to justice. Allegedly Myers’s defense attorney, Patrick Baker, barely put any effort into his case, and the jurors were allowed to drink alcoholic beverages and maintain access to cellphones and televisions, conducting themselves in a manner described as a “fraternity party like” atmosphere.

Jurors did in fact hear a taped recording that was made during an interview John had with Detective Rick Lang.

“Lang asked Myers early on in the interview if he had any ideas about the case. Myers responded, “Not a clue.”

Myers says at the time of Jill Behrman’s disappearance he did not exactly remember what he was doing but believed he was on vacation from his delivery job and did not travel anywhere for a long period of time.

Lang told myers they found DNA that had not been identified. Myers said in a taped interview that if the police wanted a blood sample they could have one.”

During the trial it was revealed that John Myers was a suspect in Jill Behrman’s murder long before his arrest . When questioned about his alibi in 2000, John’s response was “here or there?” Police failed to follow up on John until years later.

An IU pathologist testified that Jill was likely raped because her murder fits the classic scenario of a rape homicide.

A relative of John Myers, Richard Swinney, also testified. He talked about conversations he had with John and said that John often hunted near Paragon, his weapon of choice being a 12 gauge shotgun. That was the same type of weapon that investigators believe killed Jill Behrman.

John Myers was sentenced to 65 years in prison on October 30th, 2006.

Just two questions remain:

Where is the murder weapon?

Did John’s DNA ever match any of the evidence from the crime scene?

At first sight it does seem as if the case was one big rush to judgement, the lack of evidence speaks volumes.